The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Blur is a really strange game.

I’m sure it’s been talked about before, but it’s hitting a weird middle ground in the racing space. It’s got all these power ups and car explosions and so on in the game, attempting to make it feel very arcade-y. At the same time, it’s full of real cars and it requires actual skill to drive, a lot more than most arcade-y racers I’m used to.

Seriously, it takes some serious skill to just turn in this game. I was having to pick cars with high handling just to get around turns, and even then I still hit the walls of the turns most of the time. I’m simply not used to driving games without a dedicated, unrealistic “drift” button. Without being able to “Power Slide” I just can’t maneuver on more complex courses. It’s not full-on sim, but it’s obviously trying to appeal to people who are at least partially in that crowd.

The power ups, though, are really smartly executed. I love their system. You can hold 3 power ups at a time, and can switch between them, toss them, and sort them easily as you drive through the course. Most power ups have two uses, too. For example, a Barge sends out a wave of energy in an AoE attack around your car, knocking other cars away. However, you can also employ it to take down projectiles that may be coming for you. It’s just really smart, and being able to hold three and pick which one you use at any time makes you be able to employ strategies like that, instead of just feeling screwed by the luck of the draw like in Mario Kart. Of course, there’s no luck element to power ups in the game either: specific powers are in specific places on the course. Once you learn the track, you can plan a route that gives you what you need at any time. It’s nice.

I played multiplayer for awhile with Cara and Cole, and it was really a blast. The Motor Mash “battle mode” is fantastic, and constantly entertaining, thanks to the very smart design of the power ups. Even the races get exciting and frantic when you have additional human players bitching about the constantly flying power ups and such on the course. There was also a lot of neat social features in the game. For example, I could pick a rival from the people from my friends list to compare all my scores to. Multiplayer is really what the game is designed for, and it’s fantastic.
The single player is almost an afterthought, and it’s nearly as well-thought out. I mean, it’s fine. There are a variety of challenges to go through. However, even on easy, the other drivers are pretty damn good. I was starting to have trouble in the races in the 3 area or so. That kind of kills any want of me to play the single player. Maybe if I could turn, it wouldn’t be an issue. Who knows.

But yeah, Blur is strange, but well-designed. I have no idea if it found it’s audience, but there has to be people out there who would be very, very pleased with this game. I hope they found it.